Busy Beavers In Cheshire May Be Idled By Town

Several of these territorial critters have built a large dam across the Farmington Canal, dangerously increasing the height of the waterway.

Fearing the beaver dam could flood Linear Park and nearby homes, town Environmental Planner Jim Sipperly said action will likely be taken.

``I think, ultimately, the dam will have to be dismantled,'' Sipperly said during a visit this week. He pointed to the beaver lodge about a 100 yards away from the dam, midway between Higgins Road and Cornwall Avenue.

After a recent visit by Judy Wilson, a state Department of Environmental Protection biologist, Sipperly estimated that two beavers have worked hard over the past two months to construct the dam. Officials believe the beavers, nocturnal animals, are young, displaced pups.

Sipperly said the creatures appear to be bolstering the dam with large branches. Town officials, alerted to the canal obstruction about a month ago, plan to monitor the area after the next heavy rain to gauge the dam's effect.

Public Works Director Thomas Crowe said the town has experienced beaver-related problems before. Last year, he said, a dam just north of Cornwall Avenue was dismantled by his staff, but the beavers were resilient.

``Several times they built it back up again,'' Crowe said, adding that the dam inundated the area with flood waters.

Crowe said relocating beavers only moves the problem somewhere else.

Because of this, he said, the animals were killed.

The same fate could await the Farmington Canal beavers, Sipperly said.

The town, which spent about $35,000 several years ago to dredge that canal section, cannot risk springtime flooding once ice and snow melts, Crowe said.